Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 3:13 AM ET

PKX max pain

Spot (delayed)$58.6
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$55-6.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.28±3.9% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.28178 puts / 636 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3042.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$57Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$55-6.1%5d
Fri, Sep 18$55-6.1%33d
Fri, Nov 20$65+10.9%96d
Fri, Feb 19$55-6.1%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot553044587286100$3M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot553045607590239239
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PKX open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

Open-interest change — building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration — the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot55304560759055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot45515763697599%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 40354555657585+$45K$45K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.000.00300.00
1.000.00350.00010.000.000.00
1.00-0.00400.00050.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.01450.00250.00-0.01-0.01
0.97-0.02500.01340.01-0.02-0.03
0.83-0.07550.06210.02-0.07-0.17
0.36-0.09600.10860.03-0.09-0.64
0.05-0.03650.02960.01-0.03-0.95
0.01-0.01700.00520.00-0.00-0.99
0.00-0.00750.00110.00-0.00-1.00
0.000.00800.00030.000.00-1.00
0.000.00850.0001-1.00
0.000.0090-1.00
100-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot305070901103160
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot25456585105125316316
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 691 put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: PKX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk